Combat Pay
by sasha1600
Summary: Uncle Gibbs has to pick up Leigh from school. Part of the Future Perfect universe.


**Combat Pay**

**Summary:** Uncle Gibbs has to pick up Leigh from school.

**Disclaimer:** Leigh and Katie are mine; the rest belong to other people.

* * *

A/N: This takes place in the Future Perfect universe, which features Leigh and Caitlyn, the twin daughters of Tim and Abby. This is set at an unspecified point in the future, and Gibbs is retired by now.

There's a passing reference to a character thinking about corporal punishment in this one - if that's going to bother you, please stop reading now.

For draggon-flye... she knows why.

* * *

Gibbs walked purposefully through the main doors of the elementary school. He'd been here before, and knew that Leigh would be waiting for him in the main office.

He navigated his way through a maze of small children sprawled on the floor in the hallway, involved in some lesson that apparently required them to trace outlines of each other's bodies on big sheets of paper. They seemed to fill the entire first floor of the building. _Art?_ he wondered. _Science?_

Finally making his way to the office, he caught sight of Leigh huddled on a chair, looking miserable. A short distance away, a little boy sat clutching his broken glasses, a nasty bruise darkening on one cheek. Through the open door of the principal's office, he could see a child who looked a bit older angrily demanding the return of her phone, stamping her feet and yelling that her teacher had no right to delete the video that she'd been caught taking. _Probably of the fight_, Gibbs thought, taking in the boy's reaction to the increasingly loud conversation.

The secretary hung up the phone and he caught her eye, going through the usual checking of ID against the permission forms on file and signing the logbook that would let him take Leigh out of school early. The obviously frazzled woman explained that it was a stomach bug going around, and that Leigh was the fourth student today to become violently ill in the middle of the class. _Nothing that some ginger ale and soup won't fix_, he thought.

Gibbs briefly wondered if he should take Caitlyn while he was there; chances were that she'd be coming down with it, too, since the twins usually managed to share viruses more freely than they shared anything else. But, knowing Katie, she'd be furious at him for making her miss school any longer than necessary. He decided to leave her in class for the moment. He could always come back.

He picked up Leigh's school bag, catching himself before feeling her forehead or taking her by the hand. She looked up at him gratefully and headed for the door ahead of him. Without warning, she dropped the sweater she was carrying and ran down the hall, disappearing through the next doorway. Gibbs exchanged a knowing look with the secretary, who headed after her into the girls' bathroom to check on her. He retrieved the sweater, and stationed himself against a wall to wait.

A minute later, a well-dressed woman stormed past him. Taking advantage of the absence of the secretary, she headed straight for the principal's office. Gibbs wasn't particularly interested in listening to a conversation that really should have been private, but the open door, small space, and the mother's volume didn't leave a lot of choice in the matter.

'Sapphire, darling, it's alright now. I'll take care of it.'

_Sapphire?_

The girl immediately broke off her tantrum. Hovering in the doorway between the main office and the principal's, she pulled a face at the boy with the broken glasses, then looked outraged at the lack of reaction.

_Probably can't _see_ you, Sapphire._

'That woman had no right to deprive my daughter of her property! She has been picking on Sapphire all year, and I demand that something be done about it!'

'Mrs. Henderson, the students are not allowed to use cell phones in class...'

'Don't you dare blame my daughter for that woman _stealing_ her phone!'

_Oh, for crying out loud..._

'The phone was _confiscated_ because Sapphire was using it at school. Again. I know I've spoken to you about this before, and I would appreciate it if you would talk to her and make sure she understands...'

_It sounds like _talking_ is not what that child needs!_

'Oh, we understand, alright. We _understand_ that you are going to side with that woman – who obviously shouldn't be teaching if she can't supervise a class well enough to keep fights from breaking out...'

'Mrs. Henderson, the fight was not in your daughter's classroom, and Ms. Roy couldn't possibly...'

'You told me when you called that Sapphire was in trouble for filming a video of a fight with her phone. Now you tell me that she wasn't even there, so obviously she _couldn't_ film it. So that woman was _lying_ about my daughter, as _usual_.'

_Scrap that. I think it's the _mother_ who needs a spanking!_

'She was _there_, it just wasn't in Ms. Roy's classroom. Sapphire had gone to the bathroom, and she saw the fight, and she decided to film it. When she started showing it to her friends and talking about posting it on YouTube, Ms. Roy...'

'_Stole_ her phone! And _destroyed_ her video. My daughter's intellectual property rights were violated and I want to know what you are going to do about it!'

_No wonder the kid is a problem..._

'Mrs. Henderson, please...'

Leigh finally emerged, looking very pale. Glad to escape, Gibbs steered her towards the door. He forced himself to calm down; he didn't want Leigh thinking he was annoyed at _her_ because he had to come get her from school. He was perfectly happy to spend the afternoon watching cartoons with her curled up against him.

But teachers, he decided, should get combat pay.


End file.
